LearnNTeach2712 - Lecture 4

Lecture 4 – Deep Learning, Rich Tasks and Authentic Assessment (Lecture ims to show how deep lerning, rich tasks and authentic assessment can be used as effective teaching strategies in part of our best ractice pedagogy)
Outcomes

Understand the meaning of deep learning, rich tasks and authentic assessment,
Interrelationships between these concepts, and the Quality Teaching Framework for NSW Public Schools; I.e: NSW Model of Pedagogy.
Understand common types of rich tasks and their distinctive characteristics.
Understand how to plan, teach and facilitate rich tasks in the classroom.
Understand the common types of assessment strategies and criteria used in authentic assessment.
Be able to design a rich task suitable for Primary children in the context of an existing integrated unit of work.

Learning is said to be Deep Learning if:

it is not superficial
it is deeply rooted in our:- understanding of ourselves,(understanding who we are)
understanding of our contexts; (in which we learn)
understanding of concepts and ideas (concepts to extend knowledge and help us develop our schema)
understanding of our surroundings. (It is holistic in that it includes both personal understanding of who we are, what we are doing, where we are doing it the context within which we are doing it and everything that surrounds and affects our learning is considered it is therefore not superficial, it touches into higher order thinking and calls upon our greater understanding and engagement with the concepts that are being told. It is not just the concepts. It is not just the academic aspects. It is not just the scholastic aspects of learning. It is who we are, how we learn, the environment we are in and how does it all make sense as we engage with the learning process. )

Rich Tasks
Are substantial learning activities in which students engage in real world problems and produce real world solutions.
E.g. A Mathematics Class produces a kite and flies it On Open Day. (What would this involve? Well it will involve the mathematical calculations of the length and the breadth of the pieces of cloth or paper that are used to make the kite. It will involve the mathematics of measuring the angles, different angles that will be cut to shape the kite. It will involve dynamics of the science so that this kite will be able to take off and fly up in the air. It will involve literary skills as the students write notes describing the steps they go through as they design their kite. And it is out there on open day as a lived experience out in the community and it is real life meaning to what started in the classroom.
Another example could be asking again a mathematics class to provide a _ that could be used to furnish curtains for perhaps the science lab. Here again, we have got the KLA of mathematics, using measurements but also taking into context the understanding the room for the curtains. They’ve got to describe it, They’ve got to write it as a quote that has to be understood by the people who make the curtains and this is going to have real life meaning within the school because the curtains will obviously be an asset added to the school and here again is an example of a real life moment having a key learning area basis for mathematics. It doesn’t have to be mathematics. Another example for commerce where the children could be given a hundred dollars for example. With this hundred dollars, the have got to make a budget which will enable them to buy the ingredients which they will use to make cakes and they will sell these cakes at our school canteen and then they will do so to make a profit. SO here again, is a rich task. It involves real life experience It has meaning, not only in their classroom, not only in the KLA in which commerce falls but in the real life of students out there. Cakes are made, they are sold at the school but because it is an academic exercise in commerce we are able to show that we are able to budget, that we are able to put that budget into practice and use to run a small business. This small business for us is the manufacture – the preparation and cooking of cakes and selling them and making a profit. There again is an example of a rich task and I hope that makes sense

Authentic Assessment Defined:

Tasks that are grounded in the real world are said to be authentic.
The assessment used to asses such tasks is called
“Authentic Assessment”.
- Deep Learning, Rich Tasks,
- And Authentic Assessment,
- Go together.

(For example the assessment of the kite that would be conducted by the teachers would be to observe that the children completed the measurements, that the measurements were used correctly to cut out and to design and to manufacture the kite. That the kite actually took off and when it did, how long did it stay up in the air. Which children’s kite went the furthest? Stayed the longest? Flew the highest? That type of assessment then of the task that was a real life experience would be categorised as authentic assessment. And so there is a very close interrelationship between deep learning, rich tasks and authentic assessment indeed the three go hand in hand – like Joseph and Mary???)

Distinguishing Characteristics of Deep Learning

Focus on substance and the underlying meaning of concepts rather than memorisation, (it is deep meaning – what does it all mean?)
Self-regulated and personal commitment to understanding deeply, rather than superficially, (if you’re going to make a kite and make it fly, if you are going to make cakes which will attract buyers, especially when there will be competitive products at the canteen then you need to engage with an understanding with what it means that the students and the school want, what are the attributes that will make the product that you make marketable. You therefore need to be disciplined, you need to be self-motivated. Self-regulated and driven to achieve that goal which you want you will no doubt be successful.
Reflection on relationships between pieces of information to understand interactions, (often deep learning rich tasks can be completed by students in cooperative learning structures so that each member of the group has a contribution to make and they are working together and understand how they all engage with the whole task so that put together they will be able to complete the task. Which brings together the interaction of all the interrelationships that are involved among the different parts).
Applying knowledge to “real life” issues and experiences, (the examples given whether making the curtains for the lab or whether we are baking for a budget and using it and spending money to make cakes which will sell at the school. There is good evidence of real life issues)
Integration and synthesis of new information with current schema. (What we know from our mathematics that we’re now going to imbed in the calculations that will enable us to design a kite, what we know from science that we shall now embed in this task will enable us to get the dynamics which will enable the kite to fly. What we know from our home science and from our commerce and from our mathematics that will enable us to spend the $100 on the ingredients that we shall use to make the cakes so that it will be attractive and tasty and nutritious so that students will be keen and will be interested in buying it from ___ canteen. Therefore there is this integration and synthesis and as you know from our first lecture where we touched on this integration of ideas and the synthesis of ideas we are calling for higher order thinking hence deep learning has the opportunity to occur. )

Outcomes of Deep Learning

Well grounded reasoning (taking place in what students discuss, what students will write)
Contextual analysis (this happened because that happened and that happened to this. These are the interrelationships and this puts the problem within the context)
Reflective learning (so students can refer to what they did in the past, see what in their work from the past can inform what they are doing today so that they complete the task successfully. So therefore they will reflect and use past knowledge to build on what they are doing at the time.)
Integrative analysis (in that they take from one KLA from maths and combine it with another KLA of English and combine with another KLA of or science or technology to complete the tasks so it is integrative)
Open-ended appreciation (whereby we givecognizance and realisation that other people’s ideas also make sense and how we can combine with other people’s ideas with ours to make a whole and that gives us the opportunity to be open minded so as to accept what other people do and as I’ve said in the previous slide, we are touching and tapping into higher order thinking if we are calling for students to integrate ideas to synthesise to create, to bake, to come up with “what if I give you $100? What can you do with it in a commerce lesson? It is up to them to think about “what if” There is a hundred and one things you could do with $100 but they’ve got to think of which is the best way to use this $100 for the purposes for which we want to achieve the outcomes that we can budget to demonstrate that we can cook the product that would be attractive that would have a market so we shall be able to sell it, we shall be able to sell it at a profit.)
Higher-order construction of meaning (have a look at the outcomes because in the next slide we shall have a little quiz. I am going to give you outcomes achieved from classroom activities and I want you to tell me whether these reflect well grounded reasoning, or contextual analysis, or reflective learning or any of these six outcomes and here it comes. Match the outcomes with these Deep Learning Outcomes.

Rank these Products of Learning Experiences according to Deep Learning

Learning Activity and Outcome	Deep Learning Ranking
Investigated the strengths and weakness of the methods they used	*Reflective Learning (going back on what they did, looked at their strengths, and weaknesses and then work on them)*
Put together ideas and concepts across different KLAs	*Integrative Learning (Gone across KLAs and integrated them)*
Synthesized information into new, more complex relationships	*Higher-Order Learning (higher order construction of knowledge)*
Debated the benefits and costs of a Carbon Tax to the Australian economy	*Contextual Learning (within the Australian context)*
Reached consensus that each point offered had merit	*Open-ended Appreciation (not only my view but listen to every view)*
Used theory and experimentation to reach inductive conclusion	*Well grounded reasoning*

Professional Basis For Teaching Rich Tasks
NSWIT Graduate Teacher Standard Element 1:
Teachers know their subject content and how to teach that content to their students. (if you look at NSW syllabus for the different KLAs:)
Some Examples

Key Learning Area	Pedagogy Requirement
Technology	Design, make and appraise rich tasks
HSIE	Develop rich tasks using research and problem solving enquiry processes
Science	Rich tasks using scientific enquiry
PDHPE	Choice, action and reflective rich tasks

(We are expected in our professional practice to use rich tasks to engage our children in rich tasks.)

Philosophical Basis
John Dewey (1859 – 1952)

Demonstrated in Chicago that experiential learning was more effective than transmission teaching. (experiential learning is where children have hands on experience – they are going to make a budget, they are going to spend money according to the budget. They will buy the products they will use to make the cakes. They go to the kitchen and they cook, make or bake the cakes, they package them and present them to the canteen and they sell them and they reflect on what they did, they count the money they made, they compare it with what they started off with and they have a profit. What could be more experiential than that? And children that could through this learn a lot more than you talking to them about a budget and they make sure the sales revenue is greater than the cost and the difference which we call profit. They have lived the experience, they have done all the stages involved in organizing and managing finances)
Children learn best when confronted with real world problems and they solve them by themselves.

Lev Vygotsky (1896 – 1934)

Students learn best through working with others using scaffold structures provided by teachers. (scaffold structures provided by teachers - emphasise we are not out of the picture – yes in co constructivism, students construct the picture by themselves and for themselves but we are not divorcing ourselves from their learning processes because we are providing the scaffolding, we are providing the structures, we are providing the emphasis, we are providing the motivation, we are providing the initiation, we are providing the starting point upon which they build and construct their own understanding and we create the structures for example through co-operative learning which they use to construct their whole understanding.)

Paul Friere (1921 – 1997)

Poverty and disadvantage (among Brazilian peasants) was best addressed by education which would empower the poor to solve their own problems.
By making the peasants literate, we equip them with the skills to organise for improvement, become employable and more active citizens. (they learn better through doing things for themselves and by themselves) (People are engaged when they are cotributing, they feel empowered, acknowledged).

Pragmatic Basis
There are many good, practical reasons why we should use Rich Tasks within our Primary Classrooms:

They are an excellent vehicle for us to demonstrate that we are Quality Teachers as per NSW DET Quality Teaching Model.
They have potential to boost students’ individual self-esteem. (they actually make a product. Wednesday our class fed the school at recess because we made cakes as part of our commerce lesson and we sold them at the canteen. This boosts the ego and self esteem of the children because what they did has meaning in real life not only in the context of learning commerce, not only in learning of mathematics but also of community building and the value that should be associated the intrinsic value of what we sell for good, not just for profit. What they made and sell are health products )
They provide intellectual stimulation to students and teachers. (Surely because they are challenging – on open day we don’t want to go out in Armidale and try to fly our kite and it just floats. So we are challenged, we are stimulated, we are challenged to excel because what we are making has meaning in real life because we are engaged with it not just as a __ exercise in mathematics putting figures together and getting angles right but how will it perform in real life. And because of that challenge it provides intellectual stimulation and you give me a child that is intellectually stimulated and I’ll teach them anything)
They are an excellent way to show what your class or school is doing and to promote it. (it promotes it because it puts it on public show. Public show outside of the classroom in which it took place. Public show out there in the community and that in itself increases the contextual nature of deep learning tasks)
They are an excellent way to integrate knowledge across KLAs
And to deal with the crowded Primary Curriculum. (one problem is there is so much crammed into the curriculum and one way to get through it is not to just do something in isolation but integrate several KLAs)

Distinguishing Characteristics of Rich Tasks

Based on a real world problem.
- From teacher, students, school or community.
Trans-disciplinary in nature (Across KLAs). Makke sure assessments do too!
Undertaken over an extended period of time. (if you are selling cakes on Wednesday, task would be started weeks before that)
Rigorous deep learning and higher-order thinking.
Maximum student choice of topic and method. (let the children have a say because if they choose what they want to do they are more likely to be interested and hopefully give it their best shot. We are creating opportunity for personal best for each child, they will be different but as long as it's each child's best shot)
Teacher is coach, mentor, scaffold provider. (there as a facilitator)
Authentic real world product is produced
Learning and assessment occur simultaneously (not left to the very end, not just whether the kite flew on the day or not but how the children went along the different stages which culminated in trying to fly the kite on the particular day of the experiement)

How Teachers Can Enrich Learning (stand on the shoulders of these giants!)

DeBono-1976: Help children develop different approaches to problem solving.
Bloom-1985: Encourage students to engage in higher-order thinking.
Piaget-1950: Structure opportunities for active learning.
Vygotsky-1978: Encourage and enable co-constructivism.
Beane-1991: Create real-life, learning contexts.
Gardner-1983: Encourage children’s multiple intelligences.

(Using the theories of these theorists – these giants - you will be very well placed and be able to provide tasks that will be characterised as rich tasks).

How Teachers Can Organise For Rich Learning to Occur

Curriculum integration.

– Bring together elements of different learning areas.
(children could be making a drawing (KLA – creative arts) and then write a poem about their drawing which is involving English and then describe how they would make a sale or an advertisement for it which could involve commerce – integrating KLAs. Mathematics, children can make measurements and work out the science in the aerodynamics and then talk about how this can bring the community together (HSIE) integration. )

“Big picture” purposeful inquiry.

– Link the curriculum integration to an issue that is relevant to the children’s real life.

(ask children to write a letter to Mayor asking for traffic lights outside the school due to high risk to students. This would be a ‘big picture’ purposeful inquiry – linking English KLA but is meaningful to our school experience could tie in science with solar power energy for lights and describe what is required.)

Cross curricular literacies

– Use the “big picture” as the context for the application of relevant literacies, ICTs and audio-video aids.

(integrate these things)

NSW Quality Teaching Model

Intellectual Quality

Three Dimensions of NSW Quality Teaching Model

Quality Learning Significance

(see diagram)

Meaning of the Three Dimensions of NSW – QTM
(could be a hint that this could be on the test)

*Dimension*	*Meaning*
Intellectual Quality	Pedagogy that produces deep understanding of substantive ideas.
Quality Learning Environment	Pedagogy where collaboration between students and teachers leads to active, higher-order learning
Significance	Pedagogy that links children’s classroom learning to real-life experiences outside class. - eg. childen writng letters to mayor re: traffic lights, safety concern, solar energy ieas.

Examples of the Elements of NSW – QTM

Intellectual Quality	Quality Learning Environment	Significance
Deep knowledge Deep understanding Higher-order thinking Metalanguage (using language to understand language, alanysing text to determine what authors is saying via use of symbols, images, persuasive verbs, personification etc.) Substantive communication Problematic knowledge Student engagement High expectations Self-regulated students Student direction Quality criteria Connectedness Knowledge integration Inclusivity Cultural knowledge Community links	-Student engagement -high expectations - self regulated students -student direction -quality criteria	-connectedness -knowledge - Integration - Inclusivity -Cultural kknowledge -Community Links

Characteristics of Quality Authentic Assessment

Although there is no such thing as a “perfect assessment” the following attributes contribute to a high quality Authentic Assessment task:
- Validity: How well does the assessment do what it is supposed to do? (make sure that the task what it is supposed to do. If the outcome is that children should be able to work with the numbers between 2 and 50 does the task to that? If it does not it is invalid)
- consistency: How consistent is the grading across different tasks? (particularly in rich learning tasks the children will be completing different tasks. will children have achieved their best in this particular task A which is different to particular tax B be given different task?)
- Fairness: How well is student individual learning style taken into consideration? (There is the opportunity to develop using their strengths and each strength should have the same emphasis with the same evaluation so that it is fair to those students who are musically gifted to, to those who are gifted in PDHPE and for all the multiple intelligences be fair).
- Practicality: How feasible is the task in light of the children’s Stage and abilities and school context? (if you want the kite to fly on open day, don’t give them only three days. Can it be done as consideration given to time, resources and everything that the children need.) can it be done within the give time frame.

Validity:
Reliability:
Fairness:
Practicality:

Conclusion

Rich Tasks, with Authentic Assessment, can be an excellent vehicle to facilitate Deep Learning.( hence seerink between rich task, authentic assessment and deep learning)
To be effective, they must be very well planned. (cannot be over-emphasised)
They can be thoroughly engaging, enjoyable and rewarding experiences for the children and the teacher.(when children see what they have done has meaning in real life and canhelp them, their school and communities they are more engaged)
They are fully consistent with NSW Pedagogy Model.
They are integrative across-KLAs; but start modest, with a few KLAs and a simple assessment rubric.
Have a go during your next professional practice.